In each category, consider whether your have too many of a certain style or color.

I had two pairs of brown boots. Only my favorite stayed.

I had three shoes in a camel color. I kept two (a strappy wedge sandal and a regular wedge). I love all three, but honestly only wear the two, since I love one of the wedges more than the other and they coordinated with all the same clothes.

6. Don't toss something that is worn regularly with a specific outfit.

My water shoes are only worn about once every two years, if we hit a beach during vacation. But it would be silly to toss them only to buy news ones each time I go to a beach!

7. Use a fancy shoe holder or dedicated shelf or drawer for fancy shoes.Designate any space that is a crush-free zone for fancy shoes. These are the shoes that you probably can hide away, as they are for dressing up or go with specific outfits, so don't discount a shallow drawer or the coat closet.

8. Use bins for sturdy shoes, a hanging shoe organizer for flip flops and flat sandals, and a hanging sweater organizer for athletic shoes.

My bins are sorted by color: camel, red family, and brown.

A hanging shoe organizer (shown in the sidebar under "Stuff Mentioned") fits flip flops and flat sandals well, but I need the deeper sweater organizer for boots and athletic shoes.9. Learn from yourself.

I learned that I HATE black and brown shoes. I prefer natural, camel, silver, or deep reddish shoes. And since those are mostly neutral colors, they go with everything!

(Seriously, try on some camel shoes with your black pants. They pop with style!)

Now that I know my style and what I actually wear, I can shop for comfort and quality. I also don't need a camel-colored shoe. I have two great pairs.

10. Have a one in/one out policy.If I buy a new pair of shoes, a pair has to go.

I started with 40 pairs of shoes. I am down to 22 (including my water shoes, shower flip flops, and slippers).

7 comments:

Great post! I need to do this, but with my clothes. Was actually planning on tackling it tomorrow :). Have way too many clothes and I only wear maybe 10% of the wardrobe! Funny thing is that most of it is given to me which is why it's hard to downsize. It's difficult to throw away a gift.

Oh man, I totally need to do this, too. Thanks for the guidance and oomph to start! And thanks for linking up with us at MeetUp Monday! Hope to see you again this week!–Mandy http://www.OddsandEvans.com